Page B2
SEPTEMBER 2015
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on B
CALENDAR
of Events
CONVENTIONS/
CONFERENCES
MEETINGS/SEMINARS
be commissioned by various funeral homes to fulfill spe-
cial and unique requests,” says
Lee Guttentag,
President,
Glass Remembrance. “It is more than just selling a prod-
uct, it makes the customer feel satisfaction and therefore
reflects well on the funeral home’s business. Customers
have proudly shown their keepsake to friends and have
gone to the funeral home to purchase our product for de-
ceased that passed in prior years.”
Glass Remembrance
adds to the Glass Pearl
Pendant Line
MEDIA,PA—
ASD – An-
swering Service for Di-
rectors
recently enhanced
the company’s training fa-
cilities to include a state-
of-the-art Group Training
center for new employees.
With synced computers and
a large projection screen,
ASD’s Group Training cen-
ter provides trainees with an
in-depth look at ASD’s so-
phisticated computer sys-
tems. Question and answer
sessions ensure new hires
advance through the train-
ing program at the same lev-
el.
ASD’s Group Training
classes are being taught by
experienced employee,
Di-
ego Meneses,
who has been
with the ASD team since
2006. Before being promot-
ed to his current supervi-
sor position in 2014, Diego
worked as a Training Spe-
cialist teaching new hires
how to handle calls profes-
sionally and compassionate-
ly. As ASD’s Group Training
instructor, Diego’s goal is to
ensure new employees grad-
uate from group training
with a strong understanding
of how funeral homes oper-
ate and ASD’s role in pro-
tecting each and every call.
“My training experience
has come from the mindset
that training is constant,”
Diego says. “As a Marine,
I was in an environment
where training is everything
and all the time. When it
came to leadership training,
Marines always trained their
replacements. That means
you grow your people to
eventually take your job or
your place when you leave
or move up. I still think
that way. At ASD, I teach
each new employee to an-
swer every call with com-
passion, courtesy, patience
and understanding. I teach
them call control is saying
the right things in a courte-
ous and compassionate way
in order to gain the caller’s
trust. Everything else I try
to teach is built around that
simple mindset.”
Every month, hundreds
of applicants apply for po-
sitions at ASD, but only a
select few make it through
ASD’s rigorous, 6-month
training program. At the
end of each two-week group
training class, new hires ad-
vance to the second stage of
the program: one-on-one
training with a designated
Training Specialist. These
veteran employees mentor
new call specialists and eval-
ASD Enhances Company Training
Program with Group Training and
Continuing Education Sessions
Instructor Diego Meneses
uate each employee’s per-
formance with supervisors
signing off on every step of
the process.
In order to take calls inde-
pendently, new employees
must be able to speak gen-
tly and professionally on
the phone with the under-
standing that it may be the
worst day of the caller’s life.
Additionally, trainees must
demonstrate full compre-
hension of ASD’s propri-
etary systems developed
exclusively for funeral pro-
fessionals by the company’s
technical team; by ensur-
ing that all call specialists
meet this essential criteri-
on, ASD has been able to
build an experienced and
skilled team with very little
staff turnover. More than
50 employees have worked
at the company for 7 years
or longer.
In addition to support-
ing new employees by in-
troducing interactive group
training sessions, ASD has
also expanded the compa-
ny’s continuing education
program for all employ-
ees. These helpful classes al-
low our staff to learn about
different funeral customs
and increase their expertise.
ASD’s continuing educa-
tion classes are taught by a
retired local funeral direc-
tor who can provide real-life
examples and answer ques-
tions based on personal ex-
periences.
“Training is crucial to ev-
erything we do here at ASD
because of the enormous re-
sponsibility entrusted to us
by funeral directors,” says
ASD vice president,
Kevin
Czachor.
“By creating new
learning tools and allow-
ing our staff to continually
grow their knowledge base,
ASD can offer a higher level
of service to funeral homes
while fostering a supportive
company culture.”
ASD – Answering Ser-
vice for Directors has cre-
ated a new class of answer-
ing service for the funeral
profession. Family owned
and operated since 1972,
ASD blends state-of-the-art
technology with an inten-
sive, 6-month training pro-
gram focusing on compas-
sionate care. The company’s
custom-built communica-
tion systems and sophisti-
cated mobile tools were de-
signed solely to meet the
needs of funeral homes.
With patented solutions,
ASD’s Smartphone app was
recognized as the winner of
the 2012
NFDA
Innovation
Award after revolutionizing
communications for thou-
sands of funeral homes na-
tionwide. By offering fu-
neral directors unmatched
protection for their calls,
